Genetics of Insulin Resistance and the Metabolic Syndrome

Insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome are complex metabolic traits and key risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease. They result from the interplay of environmental and genetic factors but the full extent of the genetic background to these conditions remains incomplete. Large-scale genome-wide association studies have helped advance the identification of common genetic variation associated with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, and more recently, exome sequencing has allowed the identification of rare variants associated with the pathogenesis of these conditions. Many variants associated with insulin resistance are directly involved in glucose metabolism; however, functional studies are required to assess the contribution of other variants to the development of insulin resistance. Many genetic variants involved in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome are associated with lipid metabolism.